Smartphone brands have started to take flip phones more seriously now that they know there’s an interest in them. OPPO did just that with their latest entry, the Find N3 Flip.
Packed with a powerful triple-camera setup, it’s the first flip phone to take photography seriously. But it’s not just all about the cameras. OPPO nailed other things like durability, display quality, battery life and charging, and of course, performance.
So, in our OPPO Find N3 Flip review, we’ll test how good the cameras actually are and how all its components perform in real-world use to see how far modern flip phones have come.
OPPO Find N3 Flip Specs
- Android 13, ColorOS 13.2
- Dual SIM, Dual standby
- 6.8-inch FHD+ LTPO AMOLED foldable display, 2520 x 1080 pixel resolution, 403ppi
- 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+, 1600-nits peak brightness
- 3.26-inch AMOLED cover display, 382 x 720 pixel resolution, 250ppi
- Corning Gorilla Glass Victus
- 3.05GHz MediaTek Dimensity 9200 octa-core processor
- 12GB RAM
- Immortalis-G715 MC11 GPU
- 256GB UFS 4.0 internal storage, non-expandable
- 32-megapixel front camera
- 50-megapixel (f/1.8, PDAF, OIS) + 48-megapixel (ultra-wide) + 32-megapixel (2x telephoto, PDAF) rear cameras, LED flash
- Side-mounted fingerprint scanner
- Alert Slider
- Stereo speakers
- No headphone jack
- HSPA+, 4G LTE, 5G
- WiFi 7, tri-band
- Bluetooth 5.3
- dual-bang GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO, QZSS
- NFC
- USB Type-C
- Dimensions: 166.4 x 75.8 x 7.8mm (unfolded) | 85.5 x 75.8 x 16.5mm (folded)
- Weight: 198g
- Colors: Astral Black, Moonlit Gold, Mist Rose
- 4,300mAh non-removable battery, 44W fast charging
Design and Build Quality
Let’s talk about the key reason why you’re considering a flip phone: the design. Let me tell you, if you’re coming from a traditional brick phone, you’d really appreciate the portability that a clamshell flip phone provides.
When not in use, you can fold it in half so it’s only 85.5mm tall. It’s obviously thicker when folded, but still very easy to hold thanks to the curved edges. It can easily fit your palm and slide into your pocket.
Flip it open and you get a really tall screen — even taller than most regular phones as you get a 6.8-inch display. It is also incredibly thin at 7.8mm. But, you don’t actually have to flip it open every time. During our time with it, we didn’t find the need to open the clamshell as the large display was enough for some of our needs.
According to OPPO, the hinge has been crafted with aircraft-grade steel with a water-drop design and stays durable after 600,000 folds. In our tests, the hinge does feel well-built.
It also feels sturdy. We can prop it on a table in a 90-degree to 120-degree angle — great for hands-free selfies and videos — and it doesn’t tip over.
The hinge also has this micro-carved flowing design that adds a lot of character to the overall look.
Speaking of looks, the color that we have here is the Sleek Black color that has a matte metal interior and a glossy Corning Gorilla Glass Victus. It’s a fingerprint magnet, and quite heavily so, and we’re guessing it’s the same with the Cream Gold.
You can keep it clean by slapping the free case on the box. The case is made of thin and hard plastic, which is enough to keep it clean from smudges and adds a bit of grip to the slightly slippery device.
However, we doubt it can protect the device from accidental drops. Also, it’s quite a shame to hide its beautiful design. So unless you can get a sturdier, thicker case, it might be best to skip the one that came in the box and use it naked.
Overall, the OPPO Find N3 Flip feels like a well-built and sturdy foldable phone. It still feels fragile compared to a traditional brick phone without moving parts, but unlike its predecessor, this one is definitely an improvement in that area.
Oh, and also, it has an IPX4 rating. Not as impressive as the Galaxy Flip5’s IPX8, but is enough for accidental water splashes or being caught in the rain.
One of the big new additions is the Alert Slider on the left, which OPPO got from its sister company OnePlus. It has a textured surface, so you can slide it without slipping, with satisfying haptic feedback to let you know what mode you’re in: Silent (no vibration), Vibrate (pulsating), Ring (long vibration).
Having a physical switch just for this might be unnecessary for some, but wait until you’re in a meeting, your phone starts ringing loud, and you’re scrambling looking for the silent button to see how convenient it is to have.
The left side has the volume controls and the lock/power switch that doubles as the fingerprint button. They are tactile and clicky but feel uncomfortably flat. I wish the buttons were slightly higher so they are easier to press.
On the top, we have the secondary microphone for noise isolation and a small hole for the stereo speaker. The bottom has the primary speaker, USB-C port, and the SIM tray for two nano SIM cards. No microSD card slot.
It has a large 6.8-inch foldable LTPO AMOLED screen on the front, with uniform bezels to protect the screen. The top bezel has holes for the earpiece/stereo speaker.
The crease was not noticeable on day one but started to become more prominent as we kept using the device. Still, it’s an improvement over the N2 Flip when compared side-by-side. Compared to the Galaxy Z Flip5, the OPPO Find N3 Flip’s crease is less noticeable by a mile.
On the back/cover, we have a prominent camera island that OPPO calls the “Cosmos Ring” with ridges on the sides, similar to an actual camera lens. The camera bump is prominent, but it looks really cool, especially with that Hasselblad logo printed in the middle of the cameras.
Next to it is a 3.26-inch AMOLED cover screen. It’s much smaller than what the Galaxy Z Flip5 has, but OPPO explained that a smaller display means they didn’t have to compromise the camera sensors. In addition, I personally think that a vertical cover screen makes much more sense than a horizontal one.
Display and Sound Quality
The OPPO Find N3 Flip has a 6.8-inch AMOLED foldable display with a sharp 2520 x 1080 pixel resolution. If being foldable is not impressive enough, it also has a lot of bells and whistles you’d expect from a flagship: 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate, HDR10+, 1440Hz PWM dimming, and 1600-nits peak brightness.
The display offers different color modes, which we left at Vivid for spicier colors. You can also adjust the bedtime mode and eye comfort if you’re always experiencing fatigue from excessive gadget use.
OPPO also threw in an Image Sharpener that improves sharpness in low-quality photos and videos. There’s also the Video Color Boost that uses SDR-to-HDR technology. Unfortunately, it only works on a very limited number of compatible apps as of writing.
Display quality is great. The contrast is deep and the colors are vibrant — not a surprise for an OLED panel. The tall aspect ratio is great for reading long articles or for watching movies without black bars. But it’s no that tall really, as it often looks more like a regular smartphone when unfolded.
Sharpness is great, the high refresh rate is felt, and the screen can get really dim for those with sensitive eyes during late-night scrolling.
Just a few nitpicks: we wish the screen could get brighter for sunny outdoors. Viewing angles are good but it can be better.
Other than that, it’s a pretty sweet display, even sweeter knowing that it folds.
Now, let’s talk about the cover display. It is a 3.26-inch AMOLED panel with a 382 x 720-pixel resolution, 250ppi, and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus.
Display quality is also good, especially for a secondary screen. It’s colorful and contrasty, which is more than enough for showing the time, and notifications, and for the camera app if you want to use its rear cameras for selfies and groufies.
In addition, thanks to the feature called Mini Apps, you can use select apps on this small screen. Select messaging apps like Telegram work — complete with a small, cramped keyboard that’s surprisingly quite intuitive.
We’ve had fewer typos than expected on our first try, and after a few days, we easily got used to it and typed fine. No need to open the full screen to make quick replies.
To complete the experience, the OPPO Find N3 Flip comes with equally impressive stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos. It has loud volume, good clarity, audible bass, and prominent stereo separation that’s great for shooter games and sci-fi movies.
Hardware and Performance
The OPPO Find N3 Flip is powered by a 4nm 3.05GHz MediaTek Dimensity 9200 octa-core processor, with large 12GB of RAM, Immortalis-G715 MC11 GPU, and 256GB UFS 4.0 non-expandable storage. Oh, and if you’re not familiar, this MediaTek chip was designed to take on the best chip that Qualcomm currently offers, which means it can go toe-to-toe with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.
OPPO Find N3 Flip benchmarks
As expected, the performance was really fast and seamless. We had no issues doing day-to-day tasks, taking pictures, video calls, multitasking, and more.
Gaming was also seamless, too. Call of Duty: Mobile, Farlight 84, PUBG Mobile, and Mobile Legends: Bang Bang ran on the highest possible graphics settings without any hitch.
Meanwhile, Genshin Impact, a demanding game that it is, was smooth under Medium graphics preset.
One issue we noticed is throttling. After playing a couple of minutes in a relatively hot room, the device tends to overheat and will drop in frame rates. It struggles in these challenging conditions, but if you want, you can dial-down the graphics settings to have a better gaming experience.
Software and User Interface
The OPPO Find N3 Flip ships with Android 13-based ColorOS 13.2. It’s the same interface that we already know from previous OPPO releases, but with a couple of unique features to cater to the unique form factor.
Of course, let’s first focus on the cover screen. That koala wallpaper you’re seeing is animated, and there are a bunch of other animals to choose from. Also, that camera shortcut can be replaced with something else and the style of the clock can be customized to your liking as well.
Swiping up reveals the entire notification tab, and swiping down summons the compact Control Center. Quite handy.
OPPO’s Mini Apps basically shrink compatible apps to fit the cover display. The camera app is usable, the weather is comprehensive, and the Google Maps is surprisingly detailed.
There’s no Mini App for Spotify yet, but the built-in music control is still there. TikTok also works, letting you binge videos on a smaller screen. Telegram and Messages also work. There’s a learning curve in using the keyboard, but it’s surprisingly easy to get used to.
OPPO has also included a special setting for “Foldable features.” There’s the cover screen style that lets you choose the said wallpaper styles for the cover display and its Always-On Display (AOD) settings.
It also lets you choose what Mini Apps you want to show up. Also, you can customize quick replies and — possibly our favorite — if you want to answer/end calls by flipping it open/close, just like in the early 2000s.
There are also plenty of customization settings for the main display. You can play with the AOD settings, which doesn’t really make sense unless you plan on leaving the device unfolded.
By default, the device uses live wallpapers. The default one has a cool feathers animation when you close/open the device. There are also designs that dynamically change depending on how heavily you use the device, nudging you to lay off a little.
Gesture navigations are enabled by default, which is smooth and intuitive. But if you prefer the old navigation buttons, they can be enabled in the settings.
Like all OPPO phones, the Find N3 Flip has a split-screen view that works with select apps, a Flexible Window (or floating window), a smart sidebar, and kid space.
There’s the side-mounted fingerprint scanner on the right side, which worked fast and accurately during our tests. The Face Unlock was also snappy, more so when the phone is unfolded as it uses the more capable rear cameras to recognize your face.
As usual, we have Google Keyboard set by default here. It’s the keyboard we’re used to, so no issues here. Meanwhile, the camera stays as straightforward as ever.
OPPO’s ColorOS UI is one of the most mature and feature-packed in the market, so we had no concerns about the software from the beginning. The best part is, that OPPO has pledged to bring 4 major OS upgrades and 5 years of security patches to most of its phones, which we’re certain includes the OPPO Find N3 Flip. This means that consumers can use their devices longer, without worrying about possible software vulnerabilities.
Camera Quality
We praised the cameras on the OnePlus 11 in our review, and since that’s the same exact setup found on the OPPO Find N3 Flip, we’re expecting nothing less.
There’s a 50-megapixel main camera that uses a Sony IMX890 1/1.56-inch sensor with f/1.8, optical image stabilization (OIS), and 24mm equivalent lens.
It is joined by a sharp 48-megapixel IMX581 1/2-inch sensor for the ultra-wide lens with a 115-degree 14mm equivalent lens. Finally, we have a 32-megapixel IMX709 telephoto lens with a 47mm equivalent that’s great for portraits.
The main 50-megapixel OIS camera takes great images in good lighting conditions, no surprises there. Images are vibrant but not oversaturated, have pleasant contrast, clean dynamic range, and have a lot of details.
Low-light and indoor shots are still impressive. They have ample exposure and nice colors. Night Mode is enabled by default, but you can disable it in case you don’t want it.
But as expected, there’s the inevitable drop in quality, albeit still relatively sharper than some of the competition. Also, the shutter speed is slightly slower, so make sure you and the subject stay still for half a second longer to avoid blurry images.
One of our favorite features — which we also enjoyed in the OnePlus 11 — is the built-in Hasselblad filters, which you should enable before taking the shot.
Once enabled, it stays on every time you launch the camera. This gives your photos a more distinct look. No need to edit.
The ultra-wide is equally impressive, too. Compared to other ultra-wides in the market, it has sharper and more detailed images, with attractive colors and contrast. It can also do macro shots.
Now on to the telephoto lens. It has a 2x zoom with 47mm, which is great for portraits of either human subjects or objects. This lets you frame shots better. Plus, the sharp sensors capture images with good quality and details, even in low light.
If you really want to get close to a subject, you can tap the 5x zoom with 118mm equivalent, or swipe the zoom buttons to summon a dial that lets you go up to 20x with a 471mm. The image quality from the 5x is acceptable while going to 20x obviously has really terrible quality.
And thanks to the cover display, you can use all these cameras for selfies, especially for 0.5x — technically 0.6x for the N3 Flip —ultra-wide group shots with friends.
However, selfies on this mode are limited as you only have access to 0.6x, 1x, 2x, Video, and Portrait.
There’s also a Dual View mode on the camera app, so your subject can see the shot before you take it via the cover display. This is really useful for content creators who are really particular with their shots.
As for the actual selfie camera, the main foldable display has a punch-hole for the 32-megapixel 1/2.74-inch IMX709 RGBW sensor that takes exemplary photos, even in low light.
Selfies look colorful while still maintaining appropriate skin tones. Exposure is appealing and the dynamic range is impressive.
If you want a foldable smartphone with the best camera quality, there are no other options out there but this one.
Battery life and Charging speed
The OPPO Find N3 Flip has a 4,300mAh battery. It’s one of the biggest capacities for a flip phone and has one of the better battery test scores on any phone in general.
In real-world use, I was able to end a weekend date with 45% of the juice left. In a span of 15 hours and 37 minutes, I used it primarily to constantly check Facebook and Instagram, take a bunch of photos using the camera, and check directions using Google Maps.
The bottom line is, it has one of the best battery longevity on any phone — flip or not — that we’ve seen. This could be due to how we were able to accomplish tasks with the cover display without having to open the bigger screen.
Clearly, you’d end the day with still a lot of juice left if you’re just a casual user (social media, messaging, calls). But if you still run out of juice, the fast 44W SuperVOOC charging can fill the relatively small 4,300mAh battery back up in no time.
In our experience, a full charge only took about an hour or less.
Verdict
There are people who want to swap their brick flagship phone for a flip phone. However, most of them are immediately turned off when they see midrange specs, so-so-build, and disappointing cameras. That’s what OPPO addressed with the OPPO Find N3 Flip.
It may not be perfect, but we really liked a lot of things on this device.
This thing, as you already know, has a camera setup that could easily rival most flagship phones today. Pair that with a powerful CPU, more usable cover display, robust battery life, and sturdy build, and you have a high-end foldable phone that’s more than a novelty, but can very much be used as a daily driver.
OPPO Find N3 Flip price and availability in the Philippines
The OPPO Find N3 Flip is available for pre-order starting October 26 in the Philippines with an official price of Php64,999. It’s available on all OPPO physical stores and retail partners nationwide, as well as online via Shopee, Lazada, and TikTok Shop.
Pros
- Best in class cameras
- Compact, thin design folded or not
- Sturdy hinge
- Convenient Alert Slider
- Usable cover display with Mini apps
- Flagship performance
- Robust battery life
Cons
- CPU throttling
- Physical buttons could be better
- Fingerprint magnet